Pneumatic machine for picking cotton



(No Model.)

0. BALDWIN. PNEUMATIC MACHINE FOR PIOKING COTTON.

Patented May 5, 1891.

' lwvm yegmeo UNITE STATES PATENT Fries.

CHARLES BALDWIN, OF L'INCL ILIJiNoIS.

PNEUMATIC MACHINE .FOR PI CKING COTTON.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 451,589, dated'May 5, 1891.

Application filed July 12, 1890- Serial No. 358,583. (No'model.-

' To aZZ whom it may concern:

; Be it known that I, CHARLES BALDWIN, of

Quincy, Adams county, Illinois, have invented anew and Improved Pneumatic Machine for Picking Cottn, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to cotton-harvesters; and it consists in certain new and useful im-' provements in that class of the said machines which are adapted to pick cotton by means .of a blast of air, and in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts of which it is composed, as will be hereinafter specified, and pointed out in the claims.

. In the drawings, Figurel is arear end'view of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig.2 is a vertical section on line '0 o of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, the section being taken online a: ac of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is adetail view showing the air-nozzles located in one of the gatheringchambers, the section being taken on line y yof Fig. 1; andFig. 5 is an elevation ofsame, taken on line 2 z of said Fig. 1.

1 indicates the axle of a suitable cart or vehicle, having supporting wheels 2' and a suitable gear-wheel'3. Upon this axle Hocate a number of gathering-chambers-ei, (preferably 'two,) which, may be mounted in a vertical line or which may be inclined so that their upper ends converge toward each other,

as shown. 'Above the line sca- (see Fig. '2).

these chambers 4 unite with a centrally-located chambers, having the downwardlyprojecting deflecting-wing 17 in its center,

' between the chambers 4, the top of the chamber 8 on each side of the wing 17, having apr ertures 15 therein, covered with wire-netting 15 to permit the escapeof the air and toprevent the escape of the picked cotton.- The chamber 8 is centrally situated over the receiver 8, into'which the material is discharged and from which it can be removed from time to time by opening its bottom 5, which is loosely attached thereto and-heldin place by suitable fastening devices, or the said receiving-chamber maybe otherwise constructed to accomplish this dumping or discharging operation. f a

The lower ends of the chambers at are perfectly open and are cut away at their forward and rear sides, as at 6, forming thereon a forked or bifurcated end, which passes astride the rows of plants during operation of the machine, as will be explained farther on, the forks-on the forward sides ofthe chambers 4 being of greater length than those upon the rear, which is caused by the cutaway portion of the forward side being greater than that cutaway in the rear. Z

i A suitable fan or other pneumatic currentinducer 7 is locatedop the machine, preferably in rear -of chamber 8, (the receivingchamber,) andhaviug a shaft 9 suitably connected with gear-wheel 3, for the purpose of driving said-fan at a rate of-speedwhic'h will induce a forcible current of air to be driven out of the said fan into the distributing-pipes 10, which extend on either side and communicate with the interior of the gathering-chambore 4, and have branches and nozzles 12 therein so arranged as to discharge currents of air forcibly upward therein when the machine is in operation.

fan-casing, so that theirouterends ,may be adjusted up or down to suit small or larger plants, the construction of their manner of attachment to the'said chambers being as. follows: Th'erear of. each of the said chamhers is verticali-y slotted at 1O opposite the" The blast-pipes 10 are pivoted at- 13 to the be deposited, as indicated by the arrows,

within said receiving-chamber.

18 is a bar or rod extended across the lower portion of the chambers 4 transversely to the passage-ways formed therein by the bifurcations, against which the plants strike in passage of the machine over them, the functio. 01 which is to hold the plants in aforwardl;

the centrally-located plate 17,- whence it will bent position a little longer than they otherwise would be held, so as to the more perfcctly subject them to the action of the airblasts.

In some cases I may change the wheels 2 for larger or smaller ones, according to the height of the cotton-plants at the time of operation, instead of adj usting the blast-pipes for that purpose, as before stated herein.

The operation is as follows: The machine is driven in the field so that the bifurcated or forked lower ends of the gathering-ehambers straddle the rows of plants, and as the machine advances the iron of the bifurcated ends of the chambers i will run upon the plants and cause them to bend forward, and then, as the machine continues its forward movement, the plants will spring into an upright position within said chambers and finally will be engaged by the transverse bars 18 and held a short time during the forward movement, and the forcible blasts of air from nozzles 12 will engage the cotton-bolls and detach them from the plants and carry them upward and deposit them, as before stated, in the receiving-chamber.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- I 1. In a cotton-picker, the combination, with an upright chamber with notches in its open lower end atfront and rear, of a transverse bar near the base of thesaid chamber, anozzle entering the said chamber near its base, and a fan connected with the said nozzle, as described.

52. In a cotton-picl er, the combination, with an upright chamber having its forward and rear sides notched at the lower open end, the notch of its forward side being deeper than that of its rear side, of a forwardly-projccting nozzle entering the said chamber from the rear and opposite the notched forward portion, and a i" an con n eeted with the said nozzle,

as described.

3. In acotton-picker, the combination, with an upright chamber having its forward and rear sides notched at the lower open end, the notches of its forward side being deeper than that of its rear side, of a forwardly-projecting nozzle entering the said chamber from the rear and opposite the notched forward portion, the said nozzle having a beveled face upon the upper side of its forward end, a fan connected with the said nozzle and transverse bar within the base of said chamber, as described.

i. The combination, with an upright chamher having notches in its open lower end at the front and rear, the notch of the front of the said chamber being greater than that of the rear, the rear of the said chamber being slotted above the notch therein, of a nozzle contained within the said slot having a shield mounted thereon, a fan, and a pipe pivoted to the casing thereof and carrying the said nozzle, as described.

o. The combination, with acentral chamber having rounded corners, a deflecting-wing in the center thereof, and wire-netting on each side of the said wing, of a chamber connected with the said central chamber on each side of the wing thereof, having notches in the open lower ends at frontand rear, nozzles entering near the base of the said chambers, fans connected with the said nozzles, and a receivingchamber located below the said central chamber and communicating with the bottom thereof, as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

(HARLES BALDWIN.

Witnesses:

(. F. KEELER, i A. Mvnnman. 

